ESRC South Coast DTP Studentship - Measuring the quality of regional and national consumer price indices (S2123) (SCDTP-S2123)

Measuring the quality of regional and national consumer price indices

A fully funded studentship awarded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) South Coast Doctoral Training Partnership (SCDTP) commencing in 2021/22 Academic Year.

Consumer Price Indices are important statistics for economic management and public use. They are constructed from weight and price information derived from complex surveys and increasingly from web and scanner data sources. Indices for regions and subgroups are being developed, and it is important to be able to evaluate their quality. This project starts with development of quality measures for the weight and price components, and ways to estimate the variance and potential bias of national and subgroup indices. It may extend to quality measurement in alternative data sources to assess their impact on the quality of the indices.

Supervisory Team:

Paul Smith, Professor of Official Statistics, Dept of Social Statistics & Demography, p.a.smith@soton.ac.uk

Li-Chun Zhang, Professor of Social Statistics, Dept of Social Statistics & Demography, L.Zhang@soton.ac.uk

Skills Required

The research is methodological in nature. The successful candidate will have or need to acquire solid statistical theoretical knowledge, as well as programming skills and ability to carry out advanced data analysis and simulation studies.

Funding

South Coast DTP Funding provides an annual maintenance grant (tax free) of £15285 (2020/21 UKRI rate), plus payment of programme fees.  Other funding available for SCDTP funded students can be found on the SCDTP website (www.southcoastdtp.ac.uk).

Funding is provided for 3 years full-time PhD study (pro-rata for part-time students).  Applications for 1+3 funding for students completing a Master's year prior to the commencement of PhD study are also welcome (details available at www.southcoastdtp.ac.uk).

Application Procedure

The closing date and time for applications is 4.00pm on 18th January 2021.  The full application procedure, the funding application form, and more information on the South Coast Doctoral Training Partnership can be found at: http://southcoastdtp.ac.uk/apply/ 

For further information about this project, please contact the lead supervisor detailed above.  For questions relating to the application procedure, or for more information about the SCDTP, please visit the SCDTP website or contact us at scdtp@soton.ac.uk 

Closing Date: 18 Jan 2021
Post Type: PhD Studentship (Funded)